Ireland's supreme court has turned down a plea from a woman with multiple sclerosis for her partner to be allowed to help her die.

Marie Fleming, 59, from Co Wicklow, was too ill to attend the hearing in Dublin. She had appealed for the seven-judge court to allow her to die peacefully at home without her partner Tom Curran facing the threat of being prosecuted.

The family have said they expect the former university lecturer will now consider taking her case to the European court of human rights.

Curran was flanked by his son, David, and Fleming's children, Corrinna and Simon, as he listened to the court's decision.

The chief justice, Susan Denham, said: "The court will dismiss the appeal of the appellant in this very tragic case."

The court rejected Fleming's argument that the right to die would be limited to a small group of people.

"It has not generally been the jurisprudence of the Irish constitution that rights can be identified for a limited group of persons in particular circumstances, no matter how tragic and heartrending they may be," the judges concluded.

The court also found no constitutional right to die by suicide or to arrange for the determination of life at a chosen time.

Outside court, Curran said: "The court has ruled on Marie's future as far as they're concerned and we will now go back to Wicklow and live our lives until such a time when Marie makes up her mind that she has had enough."